Showing posts with label Ernest Dowson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ernest Dowson. Show all posts

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam

Ernest Dowson (1896)

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.




The title is from an ode by Horace:

“The brief sum of life denies us the hope of enduring long.”